The Snowboard Kids A Fanfic: Volume 2
by Dentarg
Summary: A fictional storyline from the mind of Michael A. Melendez
1. Introductory Paragraph

*Know that this story, characters and the chapters that proceed after it are not at all attempting to pull away from the main theme of the original Snowboard Kids.*  
  
Snowboard Kids (A Fanfic) Volume 2: A fictional storyline of the Snowboard Kids from the mind of Michael A. Melendez.  
  
*Comment from author on Volume's 1 and 2* I am still a bit new to writing stories for public viewing, but I do rather enjoy it. For Volume One I didn't give a small explanation of what was to come in the story, but in Volume Two, I plan to do that., so without further ado, here is Snowboard Kids (A Fanfic) Volume 2!*  
  
Explanation Paragraph: Our story takes place after the party at Linda's house, everyone is returning home, and Slash uncovers a strange secret about his board, the secret leads them into the bowels of the tunnels of Silver Mountain, where many dangers await the kids, will they uncover the secret of the Ancient "Blaze Board"?  
  
And now, our story. 


	2. Chapter 1: Secrets Revealed

The sun sets slowly behind the horizon of ice-capped mountains that cradle Snow Town. Music, laughing, and cheering though, could still be heard in full force at Linda's house. Jam, Nancy, Slash, and Tommy had just finished a race of their own, Tommy being the winner of this race. To reward himself, he went to Linda's kitchen and ordered Linda's butler, Yanci, to make him the biggest, fattest hamburger he could imagine. Yanci, not at all a cook, denied Tommy's request, but told him he would hire a cook for the job. Yanci thusly took out a cell phone, dialed up a local restaurant, and quickly hired a cook to satisfy Tommy's request.  
  
In the meantime, the rest of the kids were returning to the foyer in Linda's house, they all found Linda, who was waiting for them on the couch. "You're back, how'd the race go?" she said sweetly, finally able to truly feel happiness again after the events that had happened previously. (See volume 1 for more information).  
  
"Eh, Tommy's fat butt won the race." Jam said. "I caught second, Nancy got third, and Slash got last, he would have gotten third if Nancy hadn't pegged him with that ice shot." Slash was still getting snow out of his spiky hair; he decided to goof around and began shaking his head like an animal. Snow flew everywhere, getting into all of the kid's faces. "HEY!" Linda shouted, "Now you got my couch all wet!" Linda quickly kicked herself to standing. "It's alright when I say you all can have fun, but that doesn't mean pick on me! It's MY house after all!"  
  
Slash looked at Linda, seeing her anger flaring once again, his eyes widened, "Uh oh." Jam said. Linda ran at Slash, and Slash ran towards the front door, opening it and dashing out as fast as he could. Linda continued after him, finally able to take him down by grabbing his knees. "EEP!" Slash squealed as he fell over, face first in the snow. He quickly turned around put his hands up in front of Linda. "Don't hit me! Don't kill me!" Slash begged, "I'm sorry!".  
  
Linda suddenly stopped as he said the magic words "I'm sorry." She stepped away from him, but was unaware of a rock that she had kicked up when she took him down, she accidentally tripped upon it, giving herself a mouthful of snow at the same time. "Gmph!" She groaned as she fell. She got up slowly, rubbing her ankle, kicking the rock out of the dirt and into the bushes, and then walked back inside.  
  
The kids followed her back in, the guys stopped in the foyer while Linda and Nancy went up to Linda's room. "You okay Linda?" Nancy asked Linda in concern, "You took quite a fall there." Linda had stepped into her bathroom, and closed the door. Rustling could be heard on the other side of the door, as Nancy waited for her to come back out. Linda then opened the door, though she still stayed inside, she was now in a new shirt and pants. "I can't walk around my house in wet clothes, though I do it all the time in the garage after I get back from boarding." Linda said, wringing her hair out into the sink. "And yes, I am fine, thank you Nancy."  
  
The two girls went back downstairs, Slash looking at his board again, while Linda went into the kitchen. "Yanci, could you bring out some drinks for us?" Linda requested. Yanci poked his head out of the stockroom in the kitchen. "Certainly, Ms. Maltinie." Yanci replied, "What drinks are you looking for?" "I'll take a Grape Drink, Nancy will have pink lemonade, Tommy will have anything we've got, but give him a root beer, Give Slash a cola, and Jam, give him some Orange Soda." Linda selected for all the kids. Yanci nodded, going down the steps of the stockroom, and collecting drinks for the kids. Yanci came up out of the stockroom about 2 minutes later, with a plate full of glasses of the drinks Linda requested. He brought the drinks into the foyer, laying them on the table as he bowed gently. "Your drinks, everyone." Yanci said in his low voice. The kids all looked at each other, not remembering to order drinks, besides Linda. "Jam, the Orange Soda is yours." Linda started, "The cola is Slash's, Nancy has the pink lemonade, and Tommy gets the root beer. I have the grape drink."  
  
They all took their specified drinks and began to relax a bit, still winded from the party, and the little hassle that Slash and Linda got into. Slash took his drink and went back to his board, taking out his wax and beginning to wax his board. As Slash rubbed across a groove next to the bronze nose of the board, something surprising happened, the nose popped off the top of the board, and on the floor. Slash let out a yell as he saw his board separate. The rest of the kids jumped, Linda, not yet finishing her drink, had spilled her drink all over herself as she heard Slash scream. "AHHHH!!!" Linda followed with a scream of her own; realizing now two of her outfits had been soaked. Just as Linda felt ready to strangle the life out of Slash, she realized that getting herself clean should come first, therefore, Linda ran upstairs again, back into her room, this time closing the bathroom door and starting the shower.  
  
Slash began to desperately try to put his board together, and when he heard a click between the board and the bronze nose, he tried moving it again, and it was as sturdy as before. "Oh, phew." Slash sighed with relief. "I thought I broke it." Jam looked at Slash and gave him a glare, "What'd you do that for?" Jam yelled at him, "You almost scared us all out of our boots!" Slash pointed to the top of his board. "It came off, some how, and I was able to get it back on, so it's alright now." Slash assured them. "But why would it come off, and reattach?" Nancy added, "Is it removable perhaps?" Slash pondered at the question, "You know, I don't know, let's take a look." Slash said curiously, being very careful with his board as he felt around the bronze nose again, upon feeling the groove on the board, the nose again came off. "There's some sort of trigger on top of the board." Slash said, rubbing the strange groove. "It's this thing here."  
  
"Hey look, there's writing on the inside of the nose case." Jam said, pointing inside the bronze board nose. Slash went over to it, felt around the sides of it, found a crease, and opened the nose like a suitcase, inside, sure enough, there was writing. It read as such.  
  
"To depths unknown, many go, to seek the ultimate Snowboard Show, all have failed who take the chance, being mesmerized into the luring trance, of greed and power, that is this game, but the prize is surely, beyond the boundaries of fame. Take this chance; if you truly wish, but remember these rules, they're as simple as this."  
  
1: Upon the start of your journey, no weapons, other than your own snowboard may come with you, it will be known if you wield such a thing, and punishment will be dealt.  
  
2: There is no turning back once you have entered, all who enter are either blessed, or doomed.  
  
3: Upon the entrance, you will be given a single bomb. Use this bomb any way you wish.  
  
4: You may have as many as you wish accompany you, it will not matter.  
  
The poem continued on,  
  
"To Silver Mountain our journey takes place, to the catacombs known as the Mountain's Grace, through tunnels and turns you will make your way, there's time to get there now, so don't delay. You have 3 days to approach if you seek this gift, the Viper's Board, a gift quite swift. You have your time, now make haste, if you seek this board, there's no time to waste!"  
  
"I like poems." said Linda, "And obviously, it's a challenge to us, and it's on Silver Mountain nonetheless! Hmm, a Viper Board." Linda pondered, wondering what the board would be. "I wanna get this board!" Slash yelled out, jumping up. "But Slash, it could already be gone; there may already be someone who's taken it." Nancy added to Slash. . "Well, can't blame a guy for trying, I'm going, and if you all want a shot at that board, meet me at my place tomorrow morning, it's a weekend so we'll have all weekend to look for it." Slash explained.  
  
The kids, though some of them didn't want to, agreed to help each other in the search for the Viper Board. Though, questions still remained, what is the Viper Board? Who is challenging them through a message in a bronze board nose? Does the Mountain's Grace Catacomb really exist? Only time will tell. 


	3. Chapter 2: An Icy Beginning

The kids, all curious of the board, and all wanting even a look of the board, gathered up at Slash's house the next day, all of them full of excitement and curiosity. Slash came out of his house as the rest of the kids made it to his house. "Just in time." Slash said as everyone gathered. "Let's hope we can find where it is." "We probably can." Linda began to say, "But we'll need someone also who already knows of Silver Mountain. I hear Wendy has a cottage up on the mountain where she goes with her parents on some vacations, we could go there."  
  
Wendy Lane, the girl Linda speaks of, is considered the nerdy, more inventive type of the gang. Around the local Snow Town tracks, she is rarely seen, but she does have various homes where she can still continue her research and inventions, even when she's on vacation. Wendy always wears a lab coat, pink shoes, blue pants, and very, VERY thick and round eye glasses. Her hair is fixed in a pony tail that drapes behind her head. Wendy's inventions would probably be of use for finding the Mountain's Grace Catacombs.  
  
The kids were able to call a bus to get them to Silver Mountain, as Silver Mountain was much too far to walk to. Within an hour, they had arrived. The misty, hazy clouds that swirled about the mountain gave it a very frigid look. "Alright, we're not here to race." Said Slash to the rest of the kids, "Let's go to Wendy's as Linda suggested, we'll probably find the place a lot faster with her around." As Slash spoke, they noticed the sky getting darker. "Hmm, must be getting close to nighttime." Jam spoke. "But I've never seen the sky get dark that fast."  
  
Wind began to pick up as the clouds darkened further, snow began to whip the skin of the kids. "Uh oh, that's not night, that's a blizzard." Linda pointed out, "We've gotta find shelter, and fast!" The kids quickly took off, boarding down a snowy street, having trouble seeing through the oncoming blizzard. They slid down the street as fast as they could, but some of them were already feeling the turbulence of the blizzard.  
  
Nancy began to have trouble keeping herself going straight, the wind then gave an enormous howl as it blew Nancy clear off the street! "NANCY!" Jam screamed as he saw Nancy fly into a large dune of snow. Jam quickly turned his board, gripping the snow to a halt, he snapped his board off of his feet and ran after where Nancy had fallen. "You alright?" he said, helping her up. What Jam saw of Nancy startled him, her skin was turning a pale blue, Nancy looked virtually faint as he helped her up. "This isn't good." Jam bit his lower lip, carrying her back to his board, he picked up his board and slung it over his shoulder on a strap. Jam ran over to the side of the street, still carrying Nancy, he ran over to a house that was nearby. Jam banged on the door fiercely, attempting to get the attention of anyone inside, the door was answered by a friendly face.  
  
"JAM?!" The friendly face of Wendy said as she opened the door, "What are you doing up here on Silver." she cut short seeing Nancy almost frozen solid. "Whoa, get her inside!" Wendy demanded of Jam, Jam quickly ran into the house, laying Nancy on a nearby recliner, and covering her with his scarf and his hat. Wendy quickly rushed to the utility room in her house, and came back with a blanket, draping it over Nancy. "I didn't think you guys would be boarding out on Silver Mountain, especially with a Winter Weather Storm Warning out on the Weather Channel!" Wendy said to Jam as she walked over to her kitchen, starting a stove and putting a pot of milk atop of it. "I'll make her some hot chocolate that should help her get warm."  
  
Meanwhile, the rest of the kids were still racing down the hill, many of them in an out of control slide all the way down the slopes of Silver Mountain. "Aieeee!" Tommy screamed as he went speeding into the side of a store, crashing face first into the brick material of the store. Tommy peeled his face off the side, and got up, running to the door and banging on the door. "LET ME IN!" Tommy pleaded as he banged heavily on the door, an old man opened the door, and ushered Tommy in, "Hey now, sonny, you can't be out'n this type o' weather now, eh? Get inside o' me house, an' ye can stay f'er the storm to clear." The old man was kind and gentle, allowing Tommy to help himself to whatever was in his refrigerator, as well as allow him to watch television, Tommy was relieved to find some sort of shelter out in Silver Mountain.  
  
Slash and Linda though, were careening out of control, still going down the mountain at speeds that they found was even too much for themselves. Linda had become so scared that she had grabbed onto Slash and began holding for dear life, giving up on her own talent. "Bah, get off of me, I can't steer!" Slash hollered as he struggles with Linda, Linda's grip was tight, and he could not shake himself free of her.  
  
Then, things went from bad to worse, Slash's eyes widened as he saw what they were approaching, "Linda, let go, NOW!!!!" Slash screamed as he looked onto a multitude of curved cliff-side turns, Linda still wouldn't budge, Slash grimaced as he attempted to steer along the turns, he came extremely close to falling off the sides of each of them, but somehow seemed to maintain his course. "Phew, that was." Slash started, unable to see what came in front of him in half a second, another quick cliff-side curve snuck up on him, hiding in the mist, Slash shrieked as he attempted to turn, but was much too late before he found himself airborne, as well as now in a freefall. It was at this time that Linda finally let go, now attempting to grab a hold of the side of the mountain as she screamed, "Ahhhh! Help! I don't want to die!" Linda cried out, their freefall seemed almost a good five minutes, as they landed with a loud "Pwoomph!!!" into an extremely thick snow dune.  
  
Linda was knocked unconscious by the fall, while Slash got up slowly, shaking himself free of snow, he looked over to Linda, brushed his hair back in concern as he pondered what to do. Slash looked down at the snow dune, and got an idea, he began digging frantically in the snow, looking around, sure enough, he found a small chasm that both he and Linda could fit in, and perhaps even start a fire for the night. Slash picked up Linda from the dune, laying her in the chasm, then ran out to grab branches and wood for a small fire.  
  
Back at Wendy's, Nancy was finally awakening as she caught the delicious smell of hot chocolate around her nose, she smiled to the smell, opening her eyes in bewilderment, not knowing at all where she was. "You're awake, thank goodness." Jam said as he sat down on a wooden chair next to Nancy. He put a cup of hot chocolate upon the coffee table in front of himself and Nancy, offering it to her, Nancy smiled, took the cup, and drank slowly, feeling the refreshing warmth and the delicious taste at the same time. "Where are we?" asked Nancy, "All I remember is falling, getting pushed up off the street and down into a large heap of snow." "We're at Wendy's." Jam said, "I was able to find her place, it was by pure accident too." Nancy giggled a bit, "Wow, but where's Slash, Linda, and Tommy?" Nancy continued to ask questions. "I dunno where they went Nancy." Jam said, "They were still going down the mountain last they saw of you, and last I saw of them, I hope they're fine."  
  
Tommy sure was, he had fallen asleep after gorging on the old man's entire refrigerator, luckily for the old man, he also used his basement as his own private refrigerator, thus allowing himself food even if guests were to arrive. "Gee that boy kin eat a whole lot!" the old man chuckled as he saw Tommy snoring humbly in front of the television. The old man covered Tommy in a large, wool blanket, and went to his own room to sleep.  
  
For Slash and Linda, the pain continued, Linda was still out cold, and with nothing but a small bonfire to warm her, she herself was not awakening from the fall or the cold that bit at her skin. Slash had hunched himself up in the chasm, attempting to keep himself as warm as he could. Slash took a large piece of tree bark he found, and placed it in front of the chasm, at least now the cold air could stop circulating within the chasm. Slash looked over at Linda, and frowned, he had hoped Linda would have woken up by now, but her being in such a "skin-revealing" attire, she was probably three times as cold has he was. It suddenly hit him; Slash took off his coat and put it on Linda, perhaps now she would warm up. Slash noticed a lump in his coat, he reached in and pulled out a bomb, but the fuse was not lit. Slash began thinking, "Hmm, I wonder if." Slash took no more time thinking, he looked at his Blaze Board and began fiddling around with it. Slash looked all over for creases and mechanisms that could open the back of the Blaze Board, but found none, he then took drastic measures, he lit the bomb with the campfire, and put it behind the board. The board slowly clicked a bit, and opened up, two latches opening to intercept the bomb, Slash put the bomb in and held onto the two latches, he heard them click again, and then let go, finding that his little plan had worked, he had locked the back of the Blaze Board's mechanism open. Slash also found a strange dial inside the back, he turned it all the way to the left, and as the bomb ended its fuse, it didn't explode, but rather produced a flame similar to that of a torch. Slash was confused, looking at the flame, he then turned the dial a little to the right, the flame growing bigger and bigger, he then began putting sticks and branches into the burner of the board, keeping the flame going, even if the bomb's fluid had run out.  
  
Night fell on Silver Mountain, Jam, Nancy, and Wendy at Wendy's House, Tommy sleeping at an old man's shop, and Slash and Linda marooned in a small chasm, staying warm by the flaming end of Slash's Blaze board, would they truly be able to endure the harsh, even colder night.? 


	4. Chapter 3: And So Night Came

The night was even more frightening and frigid than the daytime, the winds picked up even more, and the snow fell even heavier upon the mountain. The sound of emergency patrols going up and down the streets could be heard, their sirens blaring, warning everyone to stay indoors, and find warmth through this arctic storm. The storm got even worse, as a patrol car was eventually caught in a blast of wind, and sent careening down the side of the mountain, tumbling to an untimely end.  
  
The patrol cars themselves were eventually called from the streets to seek shelter, and thus, leaving none to help the poor two, who were stuck, buried beneath the dunes of snow.  
  
"Linda, wake up." Slash insisted to Linda, shaking her, but she wouldn't awaken, perhaps the fall had taken more out of her then Slash thought, or perhaps it was the cold restricting her, whatever the case, Slash would not feel right the rest of that night unless he knew if she was truly alright or not. Linda lay upon the snow, still unconscious and unmoving, she still breathed, though barely, and her skin was very cold, much of it had turned a light blue from the immense cold. Slash shivered, he himself feeling the chill of the elements about him.  
  
"Brrrrr." Slash thought to himself, while rubbing his arms to keep himself warm, "At least we have a fire going, so that's good, but how are we exactly going to make it out of this mess? If I move that piece of wood, we'll get buried in snow, and if we stay here, we'll freeze." Slash began thinking hard, it stressed him out greatly, as he was quite worried for both his and Linda's life. He leaned back on the rocky ledge that made up the chasm side, and he felt something shift.  
  
"Oomph." Slash said as he fell backwards from a fake wall, it appeared part of the wall was made of some plaster material, and as he leaned on it, it gave way. "Well, it seems at least there's something to this place than just shelter." Slash continued, looking a bit deeper into the tunnel that had been revealed by the false wall. He saw what seemed to be a moderate-sized lounge room, with hotel-style chairs, as well as mounted and lit braziers that illuminated and lightened the room; Slash picked up Linda and brought her inside, where they felt it was a lot warmer.  
  
"What a place, and covered by such a strange wall." Slash said to himself, he laid Linda upon a chair, and covered her with his coat again. He slowly walked about the room, the room yawned in a large Y-Shape about them, ending towards the very end with a large, steel-clad door being the only visible exit, besides the hole that Slash had opened.  
  
A voice rang out, coming from the direction of the door, "Who is it, that comes so very close to the domain of the Mountain's Grace.?" it asked in a booming voice, Slash jumped in fear, quite shaky from the echoing voice. "I.I am Slash, Slash Kamei." Slash replied. The voice continued to speak, "Who is this, also, that accompanies you.?" it asked. "It, it is Linda Maltinie, a friend of mine." Slash replied, still a bit shaken from the voice's booming entrance.  
  
"You are welcome within this realm, Slash Kamei and Linda Maltinie." the voice spoke, "Your timing is early, thus you must await your colleagues to join you." "You mean we have to wait for the others before we look for the board?" Slash asked. "That is right, for you will need them all to enter the Catacombs." the voice answered.  
  
Linda began to awaken, as she did, she clutched her head in pain, still feeling the aftershock from the impact of her fall. "Ugh, I can barely think." Linda grumbled, rubbing her temples as she sat up. "LINDA!" Slash yelled, a lot happier to see her awake, "Thank goodness you're awake, I thought you were going to freeze."  
  
Linda shook her head, still trying to fully recover, "Where are we first? And secondly, why are we here?" Linda asked Slash, before Slash could answer, the voice answered for him. "You are here, for you seek the Viper Board, a board of untold energy and incredible performance. You are here on a journey, to find your way to the catacombs of the Mountain's Grace, and you have found them. You will wait here, for your colleagues to regroup with you, for only with them can you succeed on the path ahead. Your friends will be here shortly, for they will be summoned here, if they are late."  
  
Slash and Linda decided that if they couldn't leave to find their friends for now, they may as well attempt to get some sleep while they wait for them. Thusly, Slash and Linda each took a chair and slowly fell asleep with hopes in their minds of one day possessing the Viper Board.  
  
In the early morning, Jam, Nancy, and Wendy had already set out to find their friends, they quickly found Tommy, who had just left the old man's shop, and had also fixed the old man's shop up as well, in return for the old man's hospitality. They boarded down the mountain further and further, finding finally the slope that Linda and Slash had sped off of, they all looked down, seeing nothing, they began to think.  
  
"What if they're dead.?" asked Jam. "What if they're frozen solid?" said Nancy, "What if they're both trapped in a frozen lake down there?" predicted Wendy, "What if they're alright?" said Tommy, looking at the kids, "Well, you DO realize that they could have survived the storm in a lot of ways, right?" Tommy continued.  
  
The kids took the long way down the mountain, coming to where Linda and Slash had crashed into the snow, seeing only two small dips in the snow of where they once were. "They're gone, and I can't tell where they've gone to!" Jam said, panicking. "Hold up Jam." Wendy said, holding a small hand- held machine in her hand. "I am detecting a bit of heat from under the snow, there could be something down there." "Really?!" said Jam in a burst of hope, and without any other word, Jam plowed himself into the snow and begin to dig like crazy, to come up to a large piece of tree bark. "Aha!" Jam said, "I knew it! Slash DID use those tricks that we learned at school, on how to get through a blizzard, you know, from those safety classes?"  
  
The rest of the kids nodded, and helped Jam pull it aside, to reveal the crevice that made up the chasm and the Y-Shaped room; they all slowly crawled in to find a deep-sleeping Linda, and a very sleepy Slash. "SLASH!" the kids cried out, snapping Slash out of dreamland. "Wha?!" Slash said as he struggled to his feet, getting up and seeing the kids, he ran over to them and began to talk with them. "Oh my, I thought you were dead Slash." Jam said, giving Slash a playful punch on the shoulder, "You scared me half to death!" Nancy added, "Well, it's good this little gizmo came in handy." Wendy boasted as she flipped her hand-held device in her hand and closed it.  
  
"Linda's here too." Slash began, "She did almost die, my goodness was I scared, she had been turning a pale blue from all the cold, even I was cold until we found this place inside a fake wall."  
  
The kids blinked, asking Slash about the fake wall and the odd room, Slash quickly gave the kids the details of the fake wall collapse, the Y- Shape room, and the strange voice that boomed inside the room. Linda got up from her own chair, waking up, and saw the kids speaking, this made her a little jealous for attention, but she swallowed her pride and walked up to the group. "Everyone." Linda started, "I would like to thank you all for finding us, and this was one of the scariest moments I've ever been in."  
  
"If you think that is scary, Linda, then you will never find the Viper Board." the voice once again boomed in the room, startling all but Slash and Linda, who were now a bit accustomed to the voice. "Welcome, all of you, to the Mountain's Grace."  
  
- What would the voice have in store for our kids? You shall know soon enough, in Chapter 4: The Journey Unfolds 


	5. Chapter 4: The Journey Begins

"A journey awaits you all, young children of Snow Town." the voice began, "Once you enter, it is either victory, or defeat, that awaits you, and for that to occur, depends on your talent, as well as your intelligence. Some of you may find your ends here, some of you may find your wildest dreams here, but that all depends on how you perceive these catacombs."  
  
"We get it, we get it..." Slash interrupted, "If we're going in, we can't come out, we've already known how to deal with certain death events, and Mr. Dog helps us out during those predicaments."  
  
"Ah, but Mr. Dog has no influence here." The voice interjected, Slash felt a drop of sweat go down the side of his head, obviously fearful of that thought. "He can not reach you this far in the ground in his balloon, even if he could, he could not save you." The voice continued, the kids shivered at this thought, thinking they may actually be risking a lot more then they hoped for.  
  
"So, let me get this straight." Slash started, "If we enter certain doom, Mr. Dog won't help us?!" The voice agreed, confirming the kids' fear. "I'm still willing to take that risk." Said Slash, "I want to know what it has to do with my own board as well."  
  
"Then the door shall open, and you shall all be admitted inside." The voice started, "But remember, you may not leave after you have entered, and do not expect mercy from what lies inside." The doors then slowly creaked open, the kids watching it as it slowly opened. "Alright everyone." said Slash, looking to the kids, "We're going to have to be very careful in here, especially if we want to find the Viper Board."  
  
The kids, still worried, walked slowly into the doorway, they could hear nothing but the blowing of the wind in the dark, empty tunnels that made up the catacombs, as they entered, the doors slammed shut behind them, a bolt clicking as it shut. The kids jumped at the large clang of the doors, all of them shivering, but regaining their composure.  
  
"Ugh, it smells like month old beef in here." said Jam as he held his nose and looked around, wincing a bit as he fought off the smell from his nostrils. "Let's not worry too much about the smell." Said Slash, "As long as we all are focused and ready for what's up ahead, we'll be able to endure this place."  
  
So they descended down the hallway that made up the first tunnel, it was very old and brittle, much of the floor they stood upon, which seemed to be made of sod, squished under the kids' feet, Linda began gagging as she felt her feet squish under her toes. "This is so gross." she remarked, trying to find some area that would perhaps be dry, she was unsuccessful, only finding an even deeper portion of wet sod, she pulled her legs out of it, and continued on her way.  
  
Then, the tunnel began to end, as the kids looked ahead, they noticed a fork in the tunnel, splitting in three directions. One of the tunnels went north, another went, east, and another went west. A plaque was etched next to each tunnel, describing something of each tunnel.  
  
The northern tunnel plaque read.  
  
"Through here, a fiery tunnel yawns before you, should you have the skill and talent to challenge the very fire itself, then this path will lead you to glory."  
  
The eastern tunnel plaque read.  
  
"A cold death awaits those not fleet of foot or fleet of board, the icy chill of Silver Mountain combined with the frozen wastes of the North and South, you will find no quarter here."  
  
The western tunnel plaque read.  
  
"The board may be your skill, but how is your mind? Without a still mind, the board is nothing, come, take my challenge and bypass all else, you will be greatly rewarded."  
  
The kids began to argue with each other, Tommy and Nancy were quite frightened, since none of them sounded at all welcoming, Wendy was speaking of going west, as it involved thinking, Linda agreed with Wendy, though Slash and Jam disagreed, wanting to go North. Slash finally laid out his plan. "Alright!" he said, almost shouting, "Tommy, Nancy, since you both seem to be a good match of trick and speed, why don't you help each other out going east? Jam and I will go north, while Linda and Wendy go west, how does that sound?"  
  
Tommy and Nancy were still panicking from the thought of certain doom, but they looked at each other, agreed to help one another, and decided they would attempt it.  
  
The kids thus split their paths, each going down their specified paths, Slash and Jam to the north, Tommy and Nancy to the East, and Linda and Wendy to West. Would the kids be meeting each other in this strange place again.? 


	6. Chapter 5: The Burning Path with Slash a...

Slash and Jam proceeded north, as they went deeper down the tunnel, things began to warm up, and the mud that had previously slowed the kids down had begun to solidify into solid dirt, allowing the kids to finally walk straight, rather than wade in a large pool of mud. Jam stopped for a moment, smacking the mud off his pants and boots as he got on the dry floor. "At least it's only mud." Said Jam, "It shouldn't stain or anything, which I'm more worried about."  
  
They finally approached something that truly caught their attention, for the tunnel ended a few moments later, and what laid before them both amazed and frightened them.  
  
A large, lengthily snowboarding hill, created out of what seemed to be volcanic ash, stretched before them, they looked over the entire course, finding in certain portions to be streams of lava and even fissures in the course. The heat in the room was intense, the kids were sweltering in their winter gear, but that did not at all stop them. "Whoa, that's one heck of a course." Slash said, his eyes studying every nook and cranny of the course from the top to the bottom. "If we're going to make this, we're going to have to go quick, it's hot in here, and boarding takes a toll on your legs, if we're not careful, I got a feeling we'll lose it and end up falling for one of those obstacles." Jam agreed, already getting on his board and approaching the side of the hill.  
  
"Heheh, this should be fun." Jam said with some enthusiasm, he seemed very excited to be boarding down a new hill. "The only thing I don't like about it here has to be the heat, other than that, give this place some snow and ice, and this place would be great!" "Yeah, but how about we think about getting down the hill first, before we think more about how this place 'should' be?" Slash suggested. "You're right." Replied Jam, "Finally though, a new hill to tear up!" Jam cheered, jumping and grabbing the side of his board, then landing perfectly. He began to head down the course, leaving Slash a bit behind. "Hey! Wait up!" said Slash, kicking his board up and heading down the hill along with Jam.  
  
The course was a bit rocky, especially with no snow or grass to keep the traction, instead, the ash would almost tear and scratch the bottom of their boards, Jam sighed a bit, knowing that after this, he'd need to probably either switch boards, or repair his own board. Jam approached a jump, performing a 360 off of it, then landing perfectly yet again, he quickly jumped while pushing his force forward, gaining more speed, he felt very confident on the course.  
  
Slash on the other hand, was playing it careful, he was going slower than normal, weaving around the rougher parts of ash and keeping his board in one piece, he approached the jump, but instead of performing a dazzling trick, he did a simple tail grab and landed softly. Jam took a look behind him, seeing Slash pulling away behind him, he shrugged to himself, turning around again, and continuing to focus down the hill.  
  
Jam approached a large group of bumps and hills, Jam grinned at the challenge, performing various side, tail, and nose grabs off of the hills, he even pulled off a flip off one of the hills, even impressing himself. "Dang, this place is great!" Jam said, letting out a shout of excitement, he began even bobbing his head to a song he began to hum to himself in his head. It was at this point where disaster struck.  
  
Jam saw a lava flow coming up ahead, he looked to it, still quite excited, and easily jumped over it, but as he landed, his happiness turned into a shriek of horror as he saw the lava behind him gush upwards, narrowly missing his board, but startling him so much he lost his balance as he landed, collapsing to the ground. "Oh man, that hurt." Jam said, rubbing his scratched up face from the heavy impact. Lava came splashing down from the sudden burst, burning part of Jam's board. "Ugh, now I'm going to have to get that thing fixed." Jam remarked as he examined the char marks.  
  
Slash easily made the jump, no lava gushing up at him, and continued on, Jam followed, though a little bit shaken from the turn of events. Slash also was beginning to have problems, as he approached a strange field of craters, he began to lose his balance from the sharp jumps and landings, he eventually toppled over, getting into a face-first wipeout. Jam quickly leaped over him, still having a hang on control. They approached to what seemed the finish line, when they began to notice, it was getting very, VERY hot.  
  
The two looked behind themselves to see something that brought them both to the very brink of panic; the lava from the lava flow arose behind them, and had begun flowing down the same path they were going now! The lava was flowing quickly, already getting close to Jam, Jam used a nearby rock to cut a jump and ended up leaping further ahead of the lava flow, Slash, on the other hand, was in a very close race with the lava, it even began to start getting close to his board. The back of his board slowly began to open, as it normally would with a bomb, but this time, it grabbed a glob of the lava, and started to use the lava as a bomb, allowing Slash a much faster speed.  
  
Slash and Jam noticed a small crevice up ahead; they both leaped over it, and quickly stopped their boards as they made it to the finishing pad, the lava behind them caught inside the crevice, flowing down into places unknown. The kids both wiped their brows and began to laugh, they had basically cheated death.  
  
"Hey Slash, not bad, we did ourselves good, and I won one." Jam said, "Yeah, but it wasn't really a race, though it was fun, and scary at the same time." Slash replied. They both then walked over to a door that awaited them, they entered the doorway to encounter another waiting room.  
  
"Well, I guess we wait here until the others find us." Slash said, plopping on the nearby sofa. Jam looked around the room to find 3 other doors in the room, one had a blue symbol above it, another had a yellow symbol above it, and the last had a statue of a Viper above it. 


	7. Chapter 6: An Icy Grave for Nancy and To...

Things began to look a little different as Slash and Jam lounged in the room, especially for Nancy and Tommy. Both the kids were approaching a large area, and the muddy tunnel they were walking in was becoming bone- chillingly cold. As they headed down the tunnel, they came across a sign on the wall, covered in frost. Tommy took his large mitten and wiped the frost off, revealing what the sign said.  
  
"You have but two minutes to board down this ice slope, for the winds will pick up, and eternal cold will consume you."  
  
Nancy shivered, she didn't like the sound of that, she already wasn't wearing very much on her sleeves, she couldn't even think of getting frozen solid, especially in an already cold place! Tommy grunted, putting his board down and getting atop it, shimmying towards the edge, ready to board down the hill.  
  
This was no hill though, for it was merely a very, very large, hollowed out icicle, twisting and churning down what seemed endlessly in a vortex-like spiral. Other icicles inside the great icicle itself seemed to also add to its difficulty, one false move and Tommy or Nancy could careen off the side of the icicle, falling to an untimely doom.  
  
Tommy looked at Nancy; they both had fearful looks in their eyes. "Tommy." said Nancy, with a shaky voice from fear as well as cold, "If either of us don't make it, let's make sure we remember one thing, we're always going to be friends, right?" Tommy nodded sagely, obviously seeing Nancy's likewise fear, and also wished the same of Nancy.  
  
And so they leapt off the side of the hill, they landed with an uncomfortable sensation of the snowboard onto solid ice. Tommy, needless to say, already began to feel the effects of the ice, as he began to attempt to turn on the first banked turn of the icicle, his board was moving, but his momentum was not going to correct way, he soon found himself boarding sideways and heading up the side of the bank!  
  
"AHHHHH!!!!" Tommy yelped as he went careening over the side, he began to fall for what seemed a good 10 seconds, then realized that he was, on solid ground, but yet still moving, he looked down, to see himself on the next level of the icicle, but still sliding down the icy path that made up the icicle, he quickly got back on his board and attempted to catch up with the speed that he had begun to fall behind from.  
  
Nancy, on the other hand, was doing remarkably well on this course, on every banked turn she would do a quick nose grab, catch the bank and use the leverage to keep the speed going. Nancy was using this course definitely to her advantage, the ice actually speeding her up rather than slowing her down, and Nancy's handling of the turns and corners added to her advantages, she was over half way down the path by the time the first minute was up.  
  
Then, a rushing sound could be heard from the top of the icicle, as if something had crashed, but it was a lot worse then that.  
  
The kids looked up for a brief moment to see a large amount of icy water being dumped down the starting area of the icicle, and was flowing down the icy path towards them! "That must be why this course is so icy." Thought Tommy, "If that water keeps flowing down here, then no snow can collect on the course, making it hard to control."  
  
Tommy had just gotten half way done about 15 seconds after Nancy did, Nancy looked on to find a humongous jump yawning before her. "Whoa, I've never done anything THAT intense!" Nancy thought to herself. "But here goes!" As Nancy went off the jump, she propelled herself with her knees and legs, grabbing the side of her board and putting it directly in front of her and spinning completely forward, she spun for what seemed almost a complete sphere-shape before landing. Her landing was a little rough, but she managed to keep her balance all the same. "Wow!" Said Nancy, "That was fun! And now all I gotta do is wait for Tommy."  
  
She didn't need to wait much longer, for Tommy was coming up right behind her, Tommy's beady little eyes were widened with terror as an enormous wave of chill water rushed behind him, he leapt off the jump and landed with a thud at the end area, face first into a pile of snow.  
  
Nancy and Tommy turned towards the exit to find what seemed to be an ice-wall maze, a sign was etched into the side of the front area of the maze, it read.  
  
"Though you've mastered what the element of fire can do, your speed of reaction must be as fast as your speed of board. Go now, enter the accursed Ice Maze, and may you truly call yourselves Masters of Ice."  
  
The kids nodded to each other, slowly approaching the icy entrance. Tommy quickly lost his footing at the start and fell again on his face; Nancy just shook her head and patted him on the back. "You gotta work on that balance of yours Tommy, I know you're good on snow, but on ice you seem to always lose it." Nancy said. "Eh, there's still time for me to learn, but right now we've got more important things to worry about." Tommy replied.  
  
They walked slowly through the maze, discerning right from wrong, left from right, front from back, it puzzled as well as confused them. A couple of arguments ensued between the two, but nothing serious enough for them to start a true fight. Finally they approached the last leg of the maze, which was a large, very large dip, again covered in ice, but this time, and at the bottom rested an enormous pool of ice water.  
  
"What the." Tommy said, "You've gotta be kidding me, we board down there we're gonna freeze!" "No, no." Said Nancy, studying the dip, there's a small bump in the ice there, if you can get it just right, you can glide along top the water, and make it to the other side."  
  
Tommy had no idea what Nancy was thinking he was capable of; Tommy was already convinced that he could not make the jump no matter how hard he tried. Tommy, finally running out of reasons to try and get away from the option, quickly got on his board and raced down the tip, Nancy followed close behind.  
  
Tommy gulped, attempting to maintain his balance as well as his composure, he approached the jump and began to aim himself into place for the bump, he closed his eyes, and at that moment, he felt a large "THUD" under his board, and saw himself in the air, looking over a large pool of ice water. Tommy found some confidence inside his heart, biting back his lip, and leaned into the board.  
  
He landed softly in part of the water, and glided gently across it, his speed seemed to allow him to hydroplane across the water like how a boat floats on water. Tommy glided all the way to the end of the pool, stopping slowly alongside the pool. He cheered out loud, obviously very happy for himself and for luck smiling on him.  
  
Nancy then had taken to the air, but Tommy's cheering had done something that he would soon regret, for as Nancy landed and began gliding, a rain of icicles came flying from the icy ceiling, falling at Nancy!  
  
Nancy screeched with fear as she felt almost as if she was in the middle of a hailstorm, which she technically was. An icicle caught her completely off guard and made Nancy completely flip her board over and made her go face first into the water, she was completely immersed in the water by the time Tommy ran to the edge of the water to yell out to her.  
  
Tommy attempted to find any sort of way to reach Nancy, whether it was use his board as a boogie-board to finding ice sheets to walk on, he tried everything he could, but could find no way to reach Nancy. By the time he had virtually given up, he found that Nancy was no where to be seen in the water. 


	8. Chapter 7: The Chilling News

Tommy approached the doorway, a blue light guiding him to the door. He slowly pushed it open, the blue light on the other side of the door turned off, sort of startling the occupants on the other side.  
  
It was Jam and Slash...  
  
"TOMMY!" Slash and Jam hollered happily as they ran to greet their friend, "Dang are we glad to see you!" Tommy caught his breath a bit, his face still horror-struck by the events that happened to him before. "It's awful, it's just, it can't be true..." Tommy said, stuttering between his words, "She's, she's gone, she's GONE!!!"  
  
"You mean, Nancy?" Jam asked, "What do you mean, she's gone...?" added Slash. Tommy, not able to hold his feelings anymore, burst into tears, sobbing what seemed a storm all over the room. Slash and Jam attempted to calm him down, and finally, Tommy stopped crying, though his face was now a bright red.  
  
"Okay, I, I'll tell you what happened..." Tommy stuttered again, still biting back his tears, "We were coming down the slope, it was a crazy course, it was nothing but ice, and I could hardly steer. The next thing I know, I end up at the finish, to turn around and see Nancy careen down into an icy pond. I tried to find her, and save her, but I couldn't find her..." Tommy again went back to sobbing; Slash and Jam gave a worried look to each other. "If Nancy's gone, what does that mean? We'll never see her again?" Jam asked. Just then, a familiar voice broke the silence...  
  
"You accepted your fates when you stepped through the door, you accepted all risks, and must now live with them, regardless of what happens to your friends." The voice was none other than the same voice that they had encountered before at the door. The voice continued to speak, "You three so far have already come quite far to be in the Ice Grotto of the Catacombs, and from here, you all work together, that is, if you do not squabble whilst continuing..." the voice chuckled coldly.  
  
"What happens to Nancy then?" Jam asked, hoping the voice would say something different. "If your friend truly did careen to certain doom, then she will have to live with what has befallen her, just as you all will continue with what awaits you." The voice replied back. Jam's eyes widened, almost not believing what he was hearing. "Nancy, gone...?" he said to himself, looking down. "That's impossible, no, she can't be gone!" Slash as well had begun to get upset from the words, he went to a bench and began pounding his head and fists into it to try and bite back the pain he was feeling from all of what he heard. "I came to find another board, and instead I'm getting my friends hurt, if not, lost, and if not that. . ." Slash's face began to go red with anger, continuing to take his frustration out on the bench.  
  
Back within the icy covers of the Icicle Course, a few bubbles came up from the water, two pink bunny ears poked from the water and rose up. It was Nancy, though she was unbearably cold, she chattered her teeth and rubbed her arms feverously as she attempted to warm herself from the bone-chilling water she finally came out of.  
  
Nancy looked around, hoping to see Tommy waiting for her, but sadly, saw nothing but a newly frozen-over door that blocked her way. Nancy examined the door, hoping the ice was thin, but much to her dismay, the ice was even thicker then Tommy's belly was round. (Had to say that.)  
  
Nancy took her snowboard and attempted to chop at the ice with it, but it didn't even scratch or chip a little bit, it seemed the board took the majority of the damage, as now there were nicks in her board. Nancy sighed, a breath of frosted air materializing from her mouth as she exhaled. She picked her board up once again and began to search around the frozen area for any way she could escape this icy prison she seemed to be trapped in.  
  
Luck smiled upon her, as she found a dune of snow that went down the side of a hill to what seemed to be a complex design of tunnels and paths, though she did not exactly like the idea of having to search through all of them herself, she thought it better than freezing to death, and thusly got atop her board and quickly slid down the dune to the tunnels. 


	9. Chapter 8: A Mazing Predicament

Author Note: This Chapter takes place apart from Nancy's current plight, don't worry though, I'll get back to her as soon as I can.  
  
Linda and Wendy looked on ahead, the muddy path leading them into a stone-tile room, colored in green and black tiles. The walls were covered in a strange purple slate-like material, which felt very cold to the touch. "Wow, this place looks so old..." Wendy said as she looked at the tiles, and then to the ceiling, which was still muddy and dank.  
  
"Oh please..." Said Linda, looking around the hallway, "This place deserves to be buried where it is now, it's so disgusting here..." Linda looked down at her shoes, which were now covered in thick mud, she gagged a bit, taking a small cloth and began to wipe herself off with it, though to no avail. "Aww, not only is this place disgusting, now I'm going to have to buy new shoes!" Linda scoffed as she threw the cloth behind her, deciding to stomp on the tiles to try and knock the rest of the mud off.  
  
They continued down the hallway, and found something they weren't expecting, a dead end. Wendy looked at the wall closely, finding some writing inside the purple slates. It read...  
  
"Claws like a cat, crooked as a snake's hiss, patch together your guesses, you won't guess this..."  
  
Linda read the inscription, rubbing her head. "Well, we finally find the puzzles, but now what does it mean? 'Claws like a cat, crooked as a snake's hiss?' What does it want us to do?" Linda asked out loud. Wendy calmed her down, and began to think very deeply. "Claws like a cat, that means it's sharp. Crooked as a snake's hiss, that means it's unbalanced and jittery. Patch together your guesses, patch is obviously the emphasized word. And you won't guess this, meaning it's something out of the ordinary." Wendy asked herself in her mind. "I got it!" she then said, taking out a piece of chalk, she went to the wall and began to write down a word on the wall under the writing.  
  
Linda looked at what Wendy was scribbling down, it read...  
  
"Briar Patch"  
  
"Briar Patch?" Linda said to Wendy, at the moment she spoke it, the wall where the writing was, immediately vanished! Linda jumped as soon as noticed this, but was also filled with excitement. "Well, one puzzle down, nice job wiz kid." Linda said to her jokingly. Wendy smiled, giving a playful pose, and they both continued down the hallway.  
  
"Yeah, a Briar Patch is one of those little burrs that get stuck in your pants at times when your out in the woods, sometimes it takes you like, five to ten minutes just to get an entire patch out of your legs. They also stick to your skin too if they're sharp enough." Wendy explained to Linda. Linda was completely perplexed by Wendy's explanation, but understood what she meant, in a way...  
  
The next part of the hallway was decorated with walls of copper, studded with shining gems in each of the crevices. Linda seemed to be admiring the room a bit, while Wendy was unmoved, just wanting to get through the hallway. Once again, they approached another dead end, and this one too had another inscription on it. It read...  
  
"It is sought by the courageous, awarded to the winner, truly earned by those who deserve it."  
  
Wendy scratched her head at this one; even she didn't know this perplexing riddle. "Umm, to me, it could be a lot of things, so I really don't know what to say..." Wendy said. This almost obliterated Linda's morale, she was hoping that Wendy would know the answer to this one, but obviously she didn't.  
  
"Oh great..." Linda said upsettingly, "How are we supposed to get by now? Guess?" Wendy shrugged; obviously she was confused on how they were going to pass this one. "Umm, I suppose a guess is in order..." Wendy said, shuddering. Wendy then took out a small slate and began writing down the riddle upon it, pondering to herself for what seemed an hour, but was actually 10 minutes. "I think I got it." Wendy said, taking her piece of chalk and scribbling the word "Treasure" under the riddle on the wall. "Yeah, treasure..." Wendy said.  
  
Something different began to happen, something, very, VERY, different...  
  
The ground shook violently, and a dark voice boomed out, "You are so very wrong!" the voice cackled as the floor opened below the two kids, dropping them into a moldy, filthy chute!  
  
The two screamed loud as they slid down the chute, they saw things etched into the sides of the chute that frightened their very wits even further, corpses of other treasure-seekers, symbols of hopelessness and as they neared the end of the chute, a large, oblong room yawned before them, a mural of the struggle of greed and reward dominated the northern wall of the room they entered.  
  
As the chute ended, they landed firmly upon a concrete floor. Linda rubbed one of her knees that she damaged from the fall, while Wendy was busy fussing with her glasses that had been damaged. "Sorry..." Wendy said, looking down. Linda clutched her knee, in obvious pain, the impact of the fall had taken a toll on her, she landed directly on her knee, basically causing it to pop backwards, and she thusly could not move her leg without feeling pain. Linda was already shaken by the fall, the visages and etching along the chute had chilled her to the bone, she had not been able to endure the horror that had been shown to her, causing her to be frozen in sheer fear.  
  
Wendy finally finished doing some minor repairs to her glasses, and approached Linda. Linda groaned, trying to get up, but failing, she fell back down with a loud, "oomph!" and went back to covering her knee. "Darn it, I'll never be able to board like this..." Linda said as he again tried to stand up, but ended up falling again from the awkward bending of her knee.  
  
"Easy Linda, you popped your kneecap." Wendy said as she helped Linda up, giving her support with her back. Linda limped as she walked, obviously in immense pain. "We better find a way out of here, I hope that wrong answer didn't totally get us lost..." Wendy continued.  
  
The dark voice again roared to the two girls, "The door you had just failed to open, though it was the door to help you leave for the next area, you can still find your way to the exit. I give you one last chance to answer the riddle previous, fail again, and terror will ensue..."  
  
Wendy scratched her head, still baffled. "Oh no, not the name riddle..." she thought to herself. She again took her slate out and began scribbling on it.  
  
Linda though, had begun to think logically, she looked about the room, finally noticing the mural on the wall, it showed both an army of greed, and an army of reward, both were fighting what seemed to be a never- ending battle, but something strange was happening among the mural, it looked as if they actually WERE fighting!  
  
As she looked on, she found the battle passed after a good 5 minutes, and the army of reward stood as the winners, Linda then realized something...  
  
"I get it..." Linda said, "Fought for, earned, and deserved, I know it!" Linda then looked to Wendy. Wendy looked back to Linda, scratching her head again. "Get what? The answer?" Wendy said. Linda nodded, and yelled out into the room...  
  
"VICTORY!" Linda screamed. As she yelled the word, the voice replied quickly, "You speak great wisdom young woman! Victory must be earned by the courageous, and they are deserving of it." The room then slowly began to be engulfed in a white glow, Linda began backing away from the light as it finally engulfed both her and Wendy, they looked into pure white light for what seemed hours, only to finally see the light fade and reveal...  
  
A door, she looked to see herself in a room with a single door, and the room she was in was as large as a broom closet. A small window was evident in the door, she peered through to see Wendy in a room of similar liking, small room, one door, one window.  
  
The voice boomed out once again, "To advance to your friends, this last test is for you. You are both sealed within your rooms, prisoners to the catacombs itself. There is a small button in front of you, on your door. Here is how this little game works..."  
  
The voice began to instruct the girls, "Your friend will not be able to hear you during this, just so you know. If you press your button, your partner will die, but you will go free. If your partner presses the button, you will die but your partner will go free. If you both press the button at the same time, you will both die, and if you both do not press the button, you will both remain in here, and eventually die. You have one turn of my hourglass to choose your fate, kill yourself, or kill your friend, the choice is yours..." With that, a large human-sized hourglass appeared between the two doors, and began to drop sand to the bottom column of the container.  
  
Both of the girls looked at each other, and began to sweat, who would die, and who would go...? 


	10. Chapter 9: What a Decision it is!

Both Linda and Wendy sweat deeply knowing what fate had now thrown into their way, a deadly trap, both at the mercy of each other, a single button in front of them would kill either of them, or let one of them go, who would let who die? Would they both die? Would they both escape? There were only them, the doors, the buttons, and the hourglass.  
  
The hourglass continued to drop the sand, now running on what seemed to be 10 minutes left.  
  
Linda looked in her cell for anything that could help her, anything that could perhaps pry the door open, do something to let her out, but unfortunately, there was nothing. She looked to the door for any other hidden switches besides the button, but found nothing as well.  
  
Wendy too was looking for things that could help her escape, but she too found nothing of use to help her. She then searched her own pockets, and found something, it was a small mechanical arm, she looked to the door, looking out to the hourglass through it, and reached the arm to the hourglass.  
  
Looking out at what was happening, Linda began to bang the door furiously, thinking that Wendy was going to knock over the hourglass and stop their time right now, but that was not her intention.  
  
The hand grabbed the pinched point of the hourglass and began to shake it a little, just as Wendy had planned, the sand in the hourglass, stopped, stuck in the middle of the tube!  
  
Linda's jaw dropped at this, knowing now that they had some time to get a solution started, she watched as Wendy's mechanical arm pulled back and into her own cell, while that happened, Linda looked down to the floor in her cell, and began to think to herself of any solution out of this very tough predicament.  
  
She then got a thought, she began to think that this riddle of a trap, was it true? Was it actually meant to kill someone? Was it truly meant to do what it says it was supposed to do? Linda pondered on this, and then finally nodded. She moved to the button, and looked at it, her eyes widened, and then the quickly slammed a fist on it.  
  
As she struck the button, she felt the room start shaking, she saw Wendy's room also shaking, but the door had opened on her side.  
  
Wendy shrieked, realizing that Linda had hit the button, she went over to her own button, and pressed it, opening Linda's door. Both rooms now though, were beginning to sink into the ground as if they were moles!  
  
Wendy easily got out of her own room, while Linda scrambled out of the other room, almost getting her legs smashed by the roof as it crushed into the ground. "Oh my god..." thought Linda, now about to faint, "I can't believe I did that." "YOU CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT?!" said Wendy, obviously infuriated. "YOU ALMOST GOT US KILLED! I WAS A MINUTE TO GETTING US OUT AND YOU DID THAT!"  
  
Linda fell over at this surprise outburst of Wendy's, and staggered to her feet. "I, guess I deserved that..." Linda said sheepishly, as she turned to the hourglass, which was now flowing again. "Hey, how'd that get started up again?" "I don't know." Said Wendy, looking at the flowing hourglass again. "But I think we best get out of her before that hourglass finishes."  
  
The kids agreed, and ran out of the room, looking around for a way out, luckily, they found a door, but unfortunately, it had no handle! "Geeze!" Linda yelled, "Problem after problem in this darn place!" Wendy quickly took out a screwdriver from her pocket and went to work on the handle-less door. After about a minute of tinkering and a small popping sound, the door opened, they quickly sped into the door, and realized what they were standing on as soon as they got in...  
  
They quickly slid down another chute! This chute though seemed to be a straight diagonal line, and they were sliding fast! At the end, they noticed a door, they tried to stop, but were unable, they sped right into the door, the door gave way, and they found themselves on top of Jam, Slash, and Tommy!  
  
"Ow!" Jam said, rubbing the new bump on his head. "Oof!" Tommy said as they landed on his stomach. "At least they didn't hit me that hard." Slash said smiling, with not a scratch on him, Linda quickly fixed that with a smack of her board upon his forehead. "Ugh..." Slash moaned after the quick blow to the head. Meanwhile...  
  
A cold, yet very determined Nancy was making her way through a series of windy caves, the tunnels and multiple entries and exits were confusing her, but something in her would not let her at all lose her determination.  
  
She continued through the paths, coming forth to what seemed to be an ice bridge, she looked at it closely, it was VERY thin, she decided it would be best to try and grind it with her snowboard.  
  
She was definitely right, she quickly jumped up with her snowboard, grinding the bridge like a pipe, the center of it collapsed, but she had enough time to gain leverage, and get herself back up atop the bridge, she then swept down the other end of the bridge, and onward...  
  
Would she be alright? Will she be re-united with the Snowboard Kids? Only time will tell...  
  
Check out Chapter 10 later, the owner will be chosen soon... 


	11. Chapter 10: Reunited and Separated

Slash, Jam, Linda, Tommy, and Wendy were all looking among each other, Linda finally realized that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Nancy?" asked Linda, looking to the other kids. Tommy heard this, and immediately started bawling; it took the rest of the kids a good 5 to 10 minutes to finally calm him down, but then he began to talk.  
  
"Nancy's still not here, she was with me, and ended up falling into a large lake of icy water, I didn't see her since." Tommy said as he calmed down. Linda's face went white hearing this, "Nancy's what?!" she said in an upset tone. Before she could speak further, a strange sound was heard.  
  
A faint banging could be heard on the other side of one of the doors, as if someone was knocking or something. "It's coming from the door Tommy came out of." Wendy said, studying where the banging was coming from. Tommy ran over to the door, and pulled tight at it, the door finally opened, and sure enough, on the other side, was a very cold, yet very relieved Nancy!  
  
"NANCY!" the kids yelled as they went over to help her in, she was shivering from cold at this point, quite literally frostbitten, she was carrying her snowboard in her arm, and she was quite tired. "Nancy, Nancy, I was so worried, I thought you died!" Tommy said, crying again, still a bit overworked from the previous scenario. "I'm fine Tommy, really, just a little chilled, that's all, so you all made it in one piece...?"  
  
"Yeah." Replied Slash, looking everyone else, as he began to speak, a large booming voice interrupted them, "IT IS TIME." The voice roared; the large door with the viper above it finally opened, revealing what seemed to be an extremely difficult Snowboarding course! It seemed almost as if it were a Snowboard course inside of a pyramid, there were inscriptions and strange items laying in the course. "You have 9 laps to get into first place, those that are weak of strength or spirit, give up now and accept your defeat, those who wish to truly go for the prize, step forward now.  
  
Of course, no one was willing to give up at this point, as everyone was already too far into this to quit now. All 6 of the kids got their boards and approached the room, the doors rolled shut behind them, and a very ancient lift-in began to turn, obviously for the multiple laps that were to be done in this course. A large plaque above them, set in golden plating, read to them a strange phrase.  
  
"Here on this course, we give our blood, we yearn to escape the coming flood, we yearn to hold that which we covet dear, so we glide down this course and set aside our fear. Like vipers we are, we do not run, we slide our way by, we slide so smoothly, like the rays of the sun. We strike when ready, and ready we are now, so let us race, we go, now..."  
  
The kids thought on the plaque's lesson for a moment, they then gave determined looks to each other. They realized two things during this entire thing, they realized that though they may all be friends, they would need to compete again, like they usually do. In this race though, it would be for far higher stakes, but what was really important, is that they at least remember that they stay friends.  
  
And so a gong was rung, signifying the start of the race, everyone was a part in this one...  
  
Wendy took an early lead, getting a perfect leaping start, the rest of the kids started normally, except for Tommy, who was unprepared for a gong to sound, so used to Mr. Dog's pop gun, that he stumbled and fell over. Tommy grunted, not exactly happy about the rough start, and got back in the race quickly.  
  
As they approached the first jump, they noticed item and shot boxes that looked very old and unused on the course, unfortunately, none of them had any gold to take anything from the boxes, so they quickly passed them by, doing tricks off the jump instead of taking the boxes.  
  
Big mistake, the jump itself was a trap, as they performed their tricks, they realized the jump was actually a small one. Hidden by the complexity of the room, many of the kids fumbled and fell over, but Jam and Nancy were lucky enough to get their tricks done in time, and maintained their momentum, putting the two tricksters in the lead.  
  
Jam quickly zipped near the left wall to grab a shot box, but again, a trap was hidden, as he grabbed the box, it instead blew up like a bomb! Jam shook his head as he recovered from the blast. "Aww man, this place is full of surprises, I gotta be more careful!" he said to himself, quickly jumping back on his board and continuing the race.  
  
Nancy felt a bit better being alone in first, she looked carefully behind her and in front of her, knowing sooner or later someone would approach her for her lack of speed. Sure enough, Linda was slowly approaching her. Nancy looked around for any boxes nearby, luckily, a shot box was coming up, she grabbed at it, and sure enough it was safe, but what she got was quite odd. The item she got from the shot box looked like it was a light bulb filled with white powder. She looked at it, then tossed it behind her, smacking Linda square in the eyes with it. The powder erupted into Linda's eyes, blinding her, she attempted to steer her board to keep balance, but quickly crashed square into the right wall as a turn came up.  
  
Following Linda, and now passing her to get to Nancy, was Wendy, Wendy held an odd slapstick in her hand that had a money sign on it. She threw it at Nancy, but unlike other slapsticks, this one was oddly slow, though it seemed to be following Nancy very accurately. The slapstick finally caught up to Nancy before she could react, and as she fell, she noticed half her money had been spilt on the ground! Wendy quickly scooped up a good amount of it and dashed into the lift-in, with the others close behind.  
  
Just 4 seconds after Wendy jumped off the lift-in, BOOM! A bomb careened right into her, she grumbled quietly to herself as she recovered, just catching a glimpse of Jam sliding on around the next turn, followed closely by Slash and Tommy. Linda then zipped past Wendy, followed by Tommy. Wendy slid over to a nearby blue box, was lucky enough to get some strange-looking pans, she threw them, and instead of turning into pans, they turned into 3 pans apiece! One, after another, after another, the three pans dropped onto each kids but Wendy, who then finally grabbed a healthy lead.  
  
Needless to say, the rest of the kids did not take very kindly to this, especially Linda, who had finally gotten into her old "Red in the Face" mood, she dashed into a red box, and got something very odd, it was a blue sphere that said "Special" on it. She looked at the sphere a moment, then decided to try using it. Linda carefully aimed at a nearby Slash, and threw it. As she threw it, a big bag of money seemed to erupt from the sphere, and slammed into Slash! Slash fell over obviously, and as the bag opened up on him, it dropped a large amount of gold-colored rocks! As Slash tried to get up and around the rocks, he constantly stumbled on some of the rocks, tripping and falling once again. Tommy was finally coming up, and panicked a bit as he too had trouble getting through the group of golden rocks. Though he only tripped once, it was enough for Linda to pull away to get closer to Wendy and Jam.  
  
Jam, on the other hand, was already getting neck and neck with Wendy at the last leg of the second lap; Jam reached for a blue box, and got, a bucket of ice water? Jam gave a puzzled look at this, then realized what it could be used for. Jam shoved Wendy over, to get a tad in front of her, and then dumped the ice water behind him, causing Wendy to lose control of her board and crash heavily into the upcoming wall instead of the lift-in! Jam quickly got in the lift-in, and took the opportune lead that he had been given.  
  
Three more laps past, and no true place-changes really took place, Linda competed with Slash for third, but Slash would find some witty way to get Linda angry, and then smack her with a shot item to slow her or make her fall.  
  
As the fifth lap came up though, and all the kids got off the lift, something odd occurred. A strange figure jumped forth from the entrance, it looked to be another Snowboarder, but the transparency of his body suggested otherwise, suggested him being a ghost! That was indeed what he was. The figure had two yellow-glowing eyes, wore a suit that looked very much like Jam's, but wore nothing on his head but the long bangs that made up his hair. The board he rode on though was a board that was unlike any that the kids had ever seen before, it was colored almost like the dragon board, but it had green scales instead of yellow. Two fangs jutted from its front end, and a small swinging end made up the back of the board. It was none other than the Viper Board, the board the kids had so long come to find.  
  
The ghostly boarder quickly approached Tommy, ramming into Tommy's back with the board, entangling Tommy's board and knocking it over. Tommy grunted as he fell very uncomfortably, he also noticed his board now had many odd scratches on it, the board also had some strange adhesive smeared on it, that would quite obviously slow down Tommy's board.  
  
As the ghost approached Linda, Linda got an idea, she ran her board across the nearby left wall to slow down, letting the ghost pass and approach Slash. She then sped up behind the ghost, and let the ghost hook Slash the same way he hooked Tommy, but unlike Tommy, the adhesive did not coat Slash's board, merely making Slash only fall over. Linda then grinned as she saw her plan work, she quickly threw a freeze shot at the ghost, freezing the ghost, and speeding by it without much effort.  
  
The ghost quickly shook out of the icy cube that Linda trapped him in, springing back to his feet. The ghost rushed into a blue box, and got an item that looked like a scroll with a twirl symbol on it. He held it up, and the entire area went bright white!  
  
For 5 seconds, all that could be heard in the light was a strange whirring noise, after the time passed, the area went back to normal, but everyone's places were switched around! Here is how the order went now.  
  
1st: Tommy 2nd: Slash 3rd: Linda 4th: Mysterious Boarder 5th: Nancy 6th: Wendy 7th: Jam  
  
Jam grumbled at being thrown from first to last. But of course, Tommy was quite happy to have been given the lead. Tommy took advantage of this by using a fan he had gotten while in last place, to dash ahead of the pack even further. Tommy now had a very nice lead, but that lead was soon taken by Slash, who had already thrown a slapstick to knock poor Tommy face first into the ground. Slash cheered as he careened to the lift-in again, now happy that he was in front.  
  
The strange boarder quickly overtook Tommy for his fall; sliding right by him, and tossing a quick freeze shot at him as he zipped into the lift in right before Tommy. Linda was not far behind, but was unable to get by Tommy before he grabbed the lift-in first, luckily, Linda glided alongside the wall to slow down, and it saved her the trouble of crashing into the wall, she gently got into the lift-in, and quickly started heading up.  
  
Linda jumped out of the lift-in and quickly grabbed a nearby blue box, getting a strange-looking rocket. She looked at it, then turned it on, she noticed a duel-rocket pack come out of the back of her board and ignite, having her fly at an uncontrollable speed forward for a good 5 seconds. It gained her placement over the strange boarder, and she got right behind Slash too. She rammed the side of her board into Slash to push him towards the wall, she was partially successful, getting Slash to slow down, and giving her the lead, but he didn't fall.  
  
The strange boarder quickly slammed into Slash again, attempting to ensnare his board again, but unfortunately he was unsuccessful, he missed completely, and instead headed straight for a rock that had been planted in the ground, he quickly tripped, and then crashed skull first into a nearby wall.  
  
Two more laps passed, and the positions changed thusly...  
  
1st: Linda 2nd: Jam 3rd: Mysterious Boarder 4th: Slash 5th: Nancy 6th: Wendy 7th: Tommy  
  
The seventh lap began, and when everyone had finally gotten onto it, something, very, very difficult was about to happen...  
  
The ground began to shake, the sound of roaring and rolling fire began to erupt all around the course, but not on the course itself. Fire and brimstone began to get kicked up into the air, causing debris and fiery rubble to fall all over the course. Most of the rubble seemed to have a bomb-like effect, blowing up on the course whenever the pieces actually hit the ground, they would erupt as soon as they hit. The kids began to get a little worried, but Slash and Jam were not at all surprised, they already had gone through the fiery path that had made up part of the course, thus the fire didn't seem to phase them as much.  
  
Linda, on the other hand, was not at all aware of how fire and Snowboarding mix, she began to lose control of her board as the rubble continued to fall. She finally was hit directly with a chunk of rubble, and went flying into the air, flopping right onto her rear. As she got up, she watched hopelessly as Jam took the lead.  
  
Jam grinned as he swerved back and forth between the falling debris chunks. It was as if boarding through this was a second nature to him. Jam then got an idea, he took his board and made a jump, as a debris chunk came in, he deflected it back up the course line. He had expected the mysterious boarder to be hit, but somehow the boarder's reflexes allowed him to dodge the oncoming debris, it instead burrowed right into Slash!  
  
Nancy took this opportunity to perform a little combination tactic of her own, she jumped over Slash as she passed him, she took up two freeze shots in her hand, and threw them simultaneously. One missed the strange boarder completely, but the other hit dead on, she quickly grabbed a nearby red box and aimed carefully at the boarder again, throwing a parachute at him, again hitting him square and delaying him further. Nancy cheered to herself as she sped up, approaching Jam.  
  
Jam gave a troubled look to Nancy, then spoke while still racing, "Well, guess this race goes to the "trick-stars," huh Nancy?" Jam said with a witty tone, Nancy smiled and nodded, but still stayed focused on what she was doing.  
  
"Not so fast..." the strange boarder spoke, rushing up quickly behind the group, as he approached them both, he gored both of their boards with the fangs of the Viper Board, knocking them both over, and the adhesive splashed itself on Jam's board! Jam got up quickly, throwing a parachute as he got up, much to his luck, he hit the strange boarder directly and continued forward, keeping his lead, and jumping into the lift-in rather quickly.  
  
Finally, the final lap approached, and the race order was thusly...  
  
1st: Jam 2nd: Nancy 3rd: Mysterious Boarder 4th: Linda 5th: Slash 6th: Tommy 7th: Wendy  
  
Wendy was getting rather upset at the fact that she was in last; she quickly jumped for a red box, and got a rocket. She turned it on and approached Tommy as fast as she could, attempting to hit him with a bomb, unfortunately, she got too close for comfort with it, and ended up getting herself as well as Tommy in the bomb fire. It was apparent these two would not win, but they now had a different view, which of them would beat the other?  
  
Linda and Slash were still competing for placements, though Linda had now found a way to keep Slash at bay behind her. She began to throw bombs backwards at Slash, who's Blaze Board would not take in bombs from the front, this allowed her to hit Slash and not worry about him darting forward with the board's special ability. Now not having to worry about Slash as much, Linda began competing with the Mysterious Boarder, she threw a bomb at him, but he deflected the bomb with his board, narrowly missing Linda! The next shot she made though hit dead on, and Linda quickly whizzed past the boarder, as well did Slash.  
  
The home stretch came up, and as the course opened up towards the end, the ground rumbled once again. The ground began to separate right in front of the kids, splitting into what seemed to be an enormous jump, but from the angle of it, it seemed like it would be impossible to make such a jump!  
  
The kids as well as the boarder all braced themselves as they attempted this brutal-looking jump, all at the same time did the 5 leaders do this, but that asks you a question, who will win, Nancy, Jam, Linda, Slash, or the mysterious boarder...? 


	12. Chapter 11: The Winner is

A moment's pause settled over the racers, they all looked at each other as the enormous pit yawned below them. The Mysterious Boarder looked at them all, as if he were trying to size them up, he then spoke, in a strange voice, "May the best racer win, for it is not me." It said, and then, all of the sudden, the Mysterious Boarder turned his board sideways, to propel himself off the side of the edge, and into the pit! A roar followed the boarder's fall, and his incorporeal body dispersed into the ether, completely gone from view...  
  
The other racers focused themselves forward, each of them giving each other a harsh glare, they all wanted the Viper Board, but questions also ran through their minds, "If the person who had the board just vanished, how would they get the board?", "If I win, and my best friend loses, how will they respond to me later?" "Will I really win...?" After they asked their questions, they each performed a trick of their own...  
  
They leapt forth into the finish line, all what seemed at once, after a brief five seconds, a light shined into the dim light the kids stood in, it spun around, looking for the victor...  
  
And it stopped on...  
  
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Nancy Neil...  
  
A voice boomed, "NANCY NEIL!!!" the voice rumbled, "You have overcome many obstacles, and have boarded down this drastic course with ease and grace, you are worthy of the title, Champion, and are worthy enough to hold that which has been sealed from hands for so long, the Viper Board, is yours..."  
  
Nancy's eyes widened, she looked up, the light still shining upon her, she couldn't believe it, after all the work and pain she went through throughout the journey here, instead of being only the underdog that she usually was, she, was the winner...  
  
Slash, Linda, Tommy, Jam, and Wendy ran over to Nancy, they all looked among each other, nodded, then picked Nancy up and threw her up into the air, cheering for her! "You deserved this win Nancy!" Linda said, a couple of tears of joy coming from her eyes. "You raced well, and you went through a lot to win!" Jam said, giving Nancy his signature 'Thumbs-up'. "You bested me, Nancy; you're ok in my book." Slash said, Nancy could tell a twitch of frustration was present in Slash's brow, but she just smiled, and accepted his words. Tommy handed Nancy a hamburger, Nancy raised an eyebrow as Tommy spoke, "Victory burger for you!" Tommy said grinning; Nancy smiled, then took the burger.  
  
"Come forth, Nancy Neil, and accept your prize!" the voice spoke, another light shining upon a strange-looking altar that stood out of the side of the cliff they currently stood on. The kids put Nancy down, and she walked over slowly, not sure of what was to happen next. She quietly walked atop the altar, and looked about, a thick beam of white light shot down into the center of the altar, light shined out of an inscription that was engraved into the floor of the altar, in the shape of a cobra...  
  
The altar began to open slowly, she jumped back onto the altar steps, the only part of the altar not moving, and looked down into the opened altar. Another floor began to rise from the altar, and in it...  
  
Stood the Mysterious Boarder! He looked to Nancy, his two eyes glimmered as he looked, in his right arm he carried the board...  
  
"Winner of the course, bester of the ancient, you are worthy of my heritage, and as such, I present you with this board..." the boarder replied, putting the board in both his hands, and then falling to a knee. Nancy looked down, she looked rather sad, she did not want this man to be 'submitting' to her, she felt that she was only in this for fun. "I don't want the board..." Nancy replied, the boarder quickly cut her off, "I know of you, Nancy Neil, I know you wish for everyone to have fun and enjoy themselves, but if you do not accept this board, I will not enjoy myself, and I will have to live with my failure, I beg of you, take this token, and accept your place..."  
  
Nancy, not having any other objection to the argument, slowly took the board in her hands, it felt scaly and warm to the touch, as if the board itself was alive. The Mysterious Boarder stood up, bowing gracefully to Nancy, the altar then began to sink in, Nancy stood upon the stairs, as the altar closed...  
  
"And now, contestants..." the voice spoke, "Your purpose here has come to an end, you've survived the terror and the suspense of our challenge, may you all leave here, with the knowledge and feelings gained here, you are all, true champions..."  
  
As he finished his sentence, a flash of light appeared on the chest of every kid, they looked down as soon as the light cleared, to behold upon each of their chests, a pin with an engraving of Silver Mountain, and a tunnel inside of it. "May this Mark of Champions, remind you of your time here..." the voice spoke, and after such, another flash of light ensued, as soon as the light cleared, they found themselves in...  
  
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...  
Snow Town...  
  
It seemed so odd, they all noticed they were in Snow Town, they knew it, they were all right behind Mr. Dog's Paint Shop, they were all confused how they got there, but did not find it very different.  
  
"I think we all learned a lot today..." Slash said, looking to all of the kids, showing them all a determined fist. "I say from here on out, we dedicate this day, every year, a race on Silver Mountain, so that we can all remember what we did there." The kids nodded, and also, Linda stood up. "I also say on that day, we wear these marks, so we know what we race for, and we will never forget this day, this 'Race of Champions'..."  
  
With that, they all nodded to each other, and all headed to their homes...  
  
The End...  
  
Note from the Author: If you are wondering whether I am going to make another volume of the Snowboard Kids, I am actually unsure, if anyone has any ideas on what I can do for a third volume, I would like to hear them, I also would appreciate any reviews you all have for me, it took me a long time to finish this volume, and it took me a while to break my Writer's Block.  
  
On a side note, I do not story-write about the Snowboard Kids because people ask me to, I write because I am a large fan of the Snowboard Kids, and I do hope that some day these stories will actually be looked at with high regard, I know they may seem like the ravings of a game fan, but I take a lot of time and effort to actually write them, please let me know of your comments and such on this volume, and if you have comments on my previous volume, please place reviews, comments, and questions on volume 1 on the volume 1 review.  
  
Thank you...  
  
Michael Anthony Melendez 


End file.
